Child Maltreatment and the Acquisition of Identity Capital: A Retrospective Exploration of a Transformative Social Justice Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore whether secondary classes foster the acquisition of certain agentic capacities for formerly maltreated adolescents. We utilized the identity capital model (ICM) to explore the identity capital acquired by a socioeconomically diverse group of 40 Black former students in a mandatory, high school transformative social justice (TSJ) class. All participants disclosed some form of child maltreatment. The most prominent IC acquired for all participants included purpose, social perspective taking, moral-ethical reasoning, and resilience. Implications are discussed.     

Interpersonal violence in adolescence: ecological correlates of self-reported perpetration

Although growing attention is being paid to the problem of teen dating violence, to date less is known about perpetrators of victimization. The current article used a subset of 980 adolescents aged 11 to 19 who were surveyed as part of a statewide community service coordinated through Cooperative Extension to survey all youth in target communities about risky health behaviors. The current article examined correlates of perpetration of either physical dating violence or sexual abuse across all levels of the ecological model (individual, family, and community factors). At the bivariate level, individual factors including substance use and low social responsibility, family factors including divorce, low parental monitoring, and low social support, and community variables such as low school attachment and neighborhood monitoring were associated with self-reported perpetration. At the multivariate level, gender and history of victimization were most significant in explaining variance in perpetration.     

Community Perceptions of Allowable Counterforce in Self-Defense and Defense of Property

Law and Human Behavior - What level of force do people believe is appropriate to use in self-defense and defense of property? One answer is that a person may use only the bare minimum of force...     

Is cooperation the answer? Canadian environmental enforcement in comparative context

In recent years, a number of authors have been critical of the adversarial U.S. “regulatory style,” and have expressed interest in more cooperative regulatory approaches common in Western Europe. They have argued that the inflexible, deterrence-based approach that has characterized enforcement of U.S. health, safety, and environmental laws is not only inefficient in treating minor and significant violations equally, but counterproductive in fostering antagonistic relationships between regulators and the regulated. This article examines the effectiveness of the cooperative Canadian approach to enforcement of environmental regulations, using the pulp and paper industry as a case study. The resulting levels of compliance are compared with rates of compliance in the United States for the same industry. Significantly lower rates of compliance in Canada cast doubt on the growing consensus in favor of cooperative regulatory approaches.     

Gender differences associated with playing high school varsity soccer

Despite the increased participation of girls in competitive high school athletics, it is unclear that play on sports teams holds the same meaning for adolescent boys and girls. This study investigated school, grade, (freshman and sophomore vs junior and senior), and gender differences associated with a range of factors related to participation in high school varsity soccer play among 65 students attending two high schools, one emphasizing achievement, the other emphasizing competitive involvement in athletics, including soccer. Also of interest was the relationship between both soccer involvement and soccer knowledge and school climate, empathy, occupational interest, and perceived parent behavior. Because gender differences were found in comparative and correlational analysis, it is concluded that play on varsity soccer teams holds different meanings and values for adolescent boys and girls.An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Denver, November 1984. The two authors shared equally in carrying out the research reported here.She received her doctorate in sociology and education from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include children's social development and games, the transition from school to work, and schools in central cities.He received his doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include social cognitive development, gay and lesbian relationships, and the effects of divorce on children.     

Do courtship-violent men have characteristics associated with a “Battering Personality”?

Three studies explored the presence of characteristics associated with battering personalities in courtship-violent college men. These characteristics were derived from Signs to Look for in a Battering Personality developed in Fayetteville, AR, to describe wife-batterers. In the first study, two questions measured aggression. In the second and third study, Straus's (1979) Conflict Tactics Scale was also used. Attitudes toward Women (Spence et al., 1973) were measured in the first two studies. Sexual aggression (Koss et al., 1987) was measured in the third investigation. Univariate ANOVAs in all three studies showed that many of the characteristics associated with wife-battering men were also associated with college men who admitted to engaging in low-level courtship violence. However, stepwise discriminant analyses showed that two variables, threats and verbal abuse, were the most predictive of courtship violence in college men. Additional notable associations were found between the use of playful force during sex and self-reported sudden mood swings and/or a quick temper and courtship violence.     

The Adolescent Society Revisited: Cultures, Crowds, Climates, and Status Structures in Seven Secondary Schools

The authors used data from seven schools in a metropolitan region to explore continuity and change in adolescent cultures and status structures; they identified six major types of status structures and explained variation among them in terms of characteristics of communities and schools. A key feature of the study is comparison of school climates, using both survey data and qualitative case studies that provide an interpretive context for the survey responses; this methodology allows a contextual level of analysis that is unavailable in either single-school ethnographies or large data sets that aggregate responses from individuals situated in many schools.Roberta Garner is Professor of Sociology at DePaul University. She received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago (1966). Her interests are in sociological theory, political sociology, and the sociology of culture.Judith Bootcheck is Associate Professor of Sociology at DePaul University and received the Ph.D. from Purdue University (1969). Her interests are in youth and the aging, families, and social problemsMichael Lorr is a Ph.D. student in Urban Studies at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He received an MA in sociology from DePaul (2002) and his interests are in sociology of culture, political sociology, and sociology of educationKathryn Rauch received an MA from DePaul University with a focus on sociology of education and youth     

Fading Green? Environmental Politics in the Mercosur Free Trade Agreement

This article explores the role of environmental concerns in free trade areas made up entirely of developing countries. It surveys the environmental institutions of Mercosur, the Common Market of South America, and its member states. It also presents a case study of the recently terminated negotiations over a regional environmental legal instrument as an example of collective environmental decisionmaking. The article concludes that all the environmental components of the agreement are weak, and have even been downgraded in recent years. Even so, national environmental protections have increased during the years of the Mercosur agreement, and some regional actors are poised to join their northern counterparts in opposition to any potential free trade area of the Americas that does not include environmental provisions.